Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.

Apartment Fires… Be Prepared!

Early this morning, breaking news was an apartment fire on the North Side of Spokane. Lots of smoke and fire and most of all, people’s lives were at risk.

It’s hard to say that this is ‘good news’, but thankfully no residents, bystanders or fire department personnel were hurt in the fire or in the process of putting it out.

On the other side, 45 people were affected by this fire that involved all three stories of a three story building. As you can imagine, the fire is under investigation.

A tragedy… but something that could have been a whole lot worse.

As an apartment dweller, do you have a plan in case there is a fire in your building? Do you have renter’s insurance to cover the potential loss? Do you have an evacuation plan and a place to meet so that all your family members know where to find each other?

It’s also good to practice, so that in the event of an actual fire, it won’t feel weird, but rather you will do what you need to do automatically.

The building that we managed had a monitored fire alarm system, which means if the alarms went off in the building, the fire department was automatically notified.

That was both good and bad, since sometimes burnt toast set off the alarm.

But, I have to say that although we never had an tragic situation like the one today, it was helpful to go to sleep at night knowing that there was a back-up plan and that all the residents knew what to do.

Take a moment and figure out your fire evacuation plan and don’t forget to check your smoke alarm battery.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.